Faculty Publication Database

Listing of faculty publications on Singapore with available abstracts and links

Please search below from our database of more than 8,000 Singapore-related publications. Updates with abstracts and additions of new publications are ongoing. To search more effectively, please use the MLA or APA citation style which uses the author’s last name and initials.

x
This paper examines a genealogy of writings dealing with issues of Malay-Muslim
identity in Singapore. It then proposes several new vistas in the study of identity
and identity formation. The author’s strategy in addressing these two main objectives
is to categorize these varied works into three broad approaches: socio-anthropological
approach, historical-political approach and expioratory approach. As will be demonstrated
in this paper, these approaches are not necessarily exclusive. Rather, such categorizations
will serve to enlighten us on how far particular disciplines have
dominated the study of Malay-Muslim identity in Singapore at the expense of
other relevant perspectives. It is pertinent, however, to note that the present paper
does not attempt to review all studies conducted so far. Rather, it aims to provide
a “sketch map” which can then be analysed and extended for future investigations

x
This article examines the historical evolution of the madrassah in Singapore as
against its ideal Islamic past. We argue that a few broad processes have brought
the estrangement of the present day madrassah from its ideal concept and practice
in the medieval times. First was the nature of Islam that was propagated in the
Malay Archipelago. This has to a large extent left certain tendencies in thought,
which had stunted reformist movements at a later period. Next was the growing
threat of Christian missionary movements which were reinforced by the role of
British colonialists in marginalizing and delimiting the development and growth
of the madrassah into an integrated educational institution. Last but not least
are the secular-based expectations and policies that were implemented by the postcolonial
state of Singapore which further relegated the madrassah institution
within the mainstream national objectives.

x
Past scholarship has tended to portray the history of Hadramis in Singapore with that of the political, economic, social and religious prominence of the diasporic community in the pre-Second World War period, followed by declining significance and disenfranchisement. This article is a revisionist attempt at documenting the crucial roles played by members of a prominent Hadrami family, the Alsagoff, in shaping the course of Malay activism from 1945 to 1965. By employing previously untapped sources, three key areas in which the Alsagoff (s) played crucial roles are unravelled: the propagation and reassertion of Islam (da' wah), Malay politics and Malay literary movement. Through such an exposition, this study hopes to provide new inroads into the study of Hadramis in Singapore.

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Said Zahari was a journalist and leftist political activist who was detained without trial for seventeen years in Singapore during the premiership of Lee Kuan Yew. This essay examines his memoir, Dark Clouds at Dawn, and argues Said Zahari's principled political position was informed by his religious beliefs and his status as a Malay man of letters. His memoirs challenge dominant national narratives portraying Malay identity during the 1950s and 1960s as ethnically insular or chauvinistic, as Said Zahari always held a cosmopolitan and coalitional outlook. His memoirs remind us that ethnic and racial identities, both historically and in the present, cannot be essentialized and require analysis in relation to social and political struggles.

x
Singapore in Global History explores Singapore’s past and present through the lens of global history. It analyses Singapore as a city-state and adds an interdisciplinary perspective to the study of its growth. The studies presented here demonstrate that Singapore’s history and growth have implications that extend to Southeast Asia and the world. This book will be of interest to economists, sociologists and political scientists, as well as those interested in imperial history, business history, and networks.

x
This article argues for the need to view imprisonment as a transformational experience for anti-colonialists in British Malaya and beyond. Colonial prisons were fertile grounds that led to the shaping and restructuring of anti-colonial sentiments. They were also spaces where new forms of collective action, compromises and adaptations emerged. As will be shown, anti-colonialists' subjectivities and positions shifted from initial feelings of fear and submissiveness upon incarceration to the articulation of collective resistance and the manifestation of attempts to subvert and destabilize the colonial structures that bore down upon them. Such circumstances led to the alteration of the everyday practices not only of the colonized, but also of those in positions of authority.

x
This paper provides a critical historical analysis of the Muhammadiyah movement in Singapore. I argue that four processes have been crucial in the emergence and sustenance of the Muhammadiyah within a predominantly non-Muslim society: the symbiotic relationship between the leaders and their followers, the formulation and subsequent reformulation of the ideology of the movement, political opportunities which were judiciously exploited and the availability of a wide array of infrastructures. The Muhammadiyah, as will be shown, provides an informative example of an Islamic movement in Southeast Asia that has transcended the challenges faced by the minority Muslim population by making effective use of the limited resources at its disposal.

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his book deals with the genesis, outbreak and far-reaching effects of a legal controversy and the resulting outbreak of mass violence, which determined the course of British colonial rule after post World War Two in Singapore and Malaya. Based on extensive archival sources, it examines the custody hearing of Maria Hertogh, a case which exposed tensions between Malay and Singaporean Muslims and British colonial society. Investigating the wide-ranging effects and crises faced in the aftermath of the riots, the analysis focuses in particular on the restoration of peace and rebuilding of society. The author provides a nuanced and sophisticated understanding of British management of riots and mass violence in Southeast Asia. By exploring the responses by non-British communities in Singapore, Malaya and the wider Muslim world to the Maria Hertogh controversy, he shows that British strategies and policies can be better understood through the themes of resistance and collaboration. Furthermore, the book argues that British enactment of laws pertaining to the management of religions in the post-war period had dispossessed religious minorities of their perceived religious rights. As a result, outbreaks of mass violence and continual grievances ensued in the final years of British colonial rule in Southeast Asia - and these tensions still pertain in the present.

x
This thesis examines the genesis, outbreak and far-reaching effects of the first among a series of incidents of mass violence which determined the course of British colonial rule in post World War Two Singapore. I argue that the Maria Hertogh riots stemmed from British failure to address four crucial factors which shaped the Singapore Muslim community's attitudes towards the colonial regime: the influence of radical ideas, the effects of socio-economic marginalisation, press sensationalisation of the legal controversy, and the ineffectiveness of the police force. The outbreak of the riots had a negative effect on the image and role of the British colonial administration in Singapore, which jeopardised diplomatic ties between the British Empire, The Netherlands and the Muslim World. In response, the British utilised a symbiotic combination of proscription, surveillance, self-criticism, reconciliation and reform. Through these strategies, they sought to redeem their tarnished image, mitigate the negative effects of the riots, and anticipate similar outbreaks arising from racial and religious dissent. The politics, resistance, collaboration and ramifications upon minorities in Singapore arising from each of these five strategies will be brought to the fore. This thesis contributes to the wider history of colonial Southeast Asia by initiating a shift beyond the study of the causes of riots towards an examination of the wide- ranging effects and crises faced in the aftermath. Secondly, it will illuminate the linkages between the British colonial administration in Singapore and policymakers and officials in the Home Government and other outlying colonies. Thirdly, a more nuanced understanding of British management of mass violence in Southeast Asia will be provided.

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Over the past two decades, Singapore has advanced rapidly towards becoming a both a global city-state and a key nodal point in the international economic sphere. These developments have caused us to reassess how we understand this changing nation, including its history, population, and geography, as well as its transregional and transnational experiences with the external world. This collection spans several disciplines in the humanities and social sciences and draws on various theoretical approaches and methodologies in order to produce a more refined understanding of Singapore and to reconceptialize the challenges faced by the country and its peoples.

x
This paper examines a genealogy of writings dealing with issues of Malay-Muslim identity in Singapore. It then proposes several new vistas in the study of identity and identity formation. The author's strategy in addressing these two main objectives is to categorize these varied works into three broad approaches: socio-anthropological approach, historical-political approach and expioratory approach. As will be demonstrated in this paper, these approaches are not necessarily exclusive. Rather, such categorizations will serve to enlighten us on how far particular disciplines have dominated the study of Malay-Muslim identity in Singapore at the expense of other relevant perspectives. It is pertinent, however, to note that the present paper does not attempt to review all studies conducted so far. Rather, it aims to provide a “sketch map” which can then be analysed and extended for future investigations.

x
While much has been written about identity formation and the politics of ethnicity among minority communities in various parts of modern-day Southeast Asia, the same cannot be said regarding the Malay community of Singapore. This article seeks to address this scholarly neglect by bringing into sharp focus the dynamics, processes, and circumstances that shaped Malay identity in postcolonial Singapore during the 1980s. By interweaving historical data with theoretical insights derived from the works of Andrew Willford, Manuel Castells, and Richard Jenkins, among others, this article provides an analytical reading of the global, regional, and local developments that brought about an ethnic resurgence within one of the largest minority groups in this island city-state. Such developments prompted the Singapore government to devise new laws and employ multi-faceted strategies to regain its legitimacy in the eyes of a certain segment of the population, and to enhance its ruling capacity. The problematics embedded within the state's interpretation of Malay identity and the effects of citizen resistance against state policies are considered in detail in the final sections of this article.

x
This article examines the historical evolution of the madrassah in Singapore as against its ideal Islamic past. We argue that a few broad processes have brought the estrangement of the present day madrassah from its ideal concept and practice in the medieval times. First was the nature of Islam that was propagated in the Malay Archipelago. This has to a large extent left certain tendencies in thought, which had stunned reformist movements at a later period. Next was the growing threat of Christian missionary which were reinforced by the role of British colonialists in marginalizing and delimiting the development and growth of the madrassah into an integrated educational institution. Last but not least are the secular-based expectations and policies that were implemented by the post-colonial state of Singapore which further relegated the madrassah institution within the mainstream national objectives.

x
This article examines British discourses on Malay identity in colonial Singapore against the backdrop of the latent realities of that era. I argue that British discourses are determined by a confluence of ideological, political and methodological underpinnings as well as other factors which gave rise to a tenuous understanding of what it meant to be ‘Malay’. Nevertheless, such discourses should not be disregarded because they provide us with useful vantage points from which the much neglected subject of Malay identity in colonial Singapore could be approached, refined and fully understood. British discourses on Islam, perceived differences between Malays and other ethnic groupings, the Malay language, the notion of a ‘depressed community’ and class divisions will be interrogated in order to arrive at a more comprehensive portrayal of Malay identity in colonial Singapore.